Tennis News: Boris Becker, Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune and Iga Swiatek

Boris Becker is getting back in the swing of tennis. After he was released from a UK prison in December, Becker has been somewhat active, but he hasn’t gotten back into coaching. That’s changed now, though. Becker has accepted a gig to coach top-ten player Holger Rune for the rest of 2023.

Rune has been greatly struggling since July. He has won just one of his nine matches. He was ranked a career-high No. 4 as recently as August but is currently ranked No. 6 with a very real chance of moving outside the top 10 if things do not improve quickly. Enter Brosi Becker.

Becker was not only a great player, of course, but he has coached some of the best. He was Novak Djokovic’s coach between 2013 and 2016. Rune is a lot like Djokovic as well in that Rune doesn’t rely on a huge serve to win matches. While Becker did do that as a player, he also seems successful in teaching players who do the opposite of what he did.

Boris Becker to coach Rune, Djokovic and Swiatek to play at revamped event

Boris Becker, who was in prison and served eight months of a 30-month sentence for hiding financial assets and loans, told Eurosport Germany that he can confirm he will be coaching Rune. The hope is Becker’s coaching can make sure Rune is playing better and is still able to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in November and then play well once there. After that, we will see. If Rune does well, he will likely retain Becker for a bit longer as coach.

In other tennis news, the slightly revamped 2024 United Cup will take place from December 29 through January 7 in Perth and Sydney, Australia. The event is a 16-country round-robin tournament that will give away a minimum of 15 million in Australian currency (9,471,000 in U.S. dollars and 8,931,231 in Euros) plus award 500 WTA and ATP points to the winners on each side.

That’s one of the cool things about the event is that it incorporates both the ATP and WTA. Among the countries involved are Poland, Serbia, Australia and the United States. But maybe even better, that means Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will both take part.

If you don’t want to miss the event (and why would you?), tickets go on sale on Monday, October 25. The tournament’s draw will take place on October 23.